The difference of tactics in Vietnam played an important part in the victory of the Vietcong over the far superior United States. The Vietcong used guerrilla warfare, a form of fighting with the aim to hinder the opposing force. This form of fighting dates back to Sun Tzu a Chinese military strategist who lived over 2000 years ago, he believed that all warfare involves the employing of ones strength to exploit the weaknesses of the enemy. Guerrilla warfare was also successfully adopted by Mao Zedong the leader of the communist's forces in China. The USA were used to conventional warfare, in the form of bouts of fighting, guerrilla warfare ment they had to be constantly alert, for which they were not adequately trained.
The strategy and tactics used by the Vietcong were based on those used by Mao Zedong, One important feature was the use of small groups of soldiers called cells. The cells worked together but knowledge of other cells was kept to a minimum, to lower the damage done to the organisation as a whole if one soldier was captured and tortured. The US troops began to use the 'search and destroy tactic' from 1965 to try and find members of theses cells and kill them. This was made extremely difficult, as the Vietcong did not wear uniforms so they were hard to distinguish from the ordinary peasants.
"You never know who the enemy was and who was the friend they all looked alike. They all dressed alike."
The US troops were often forced to use the unwritten rule 'If he's dead and Vietnamese he's VC.' Many atrocities were committed during the war due to the US troops not knowing peasants from proper enemies. If the US Marines knew or suspected that the Vietcong was operational in a particular village they frequently used to torture the peasants in the villages to gain information, sometimes, as mentioned below by an US Navy officer who served in Vietnam, whole villages were destroyed.
The strategy and tactics used by the Vietcong were based on those used by Mao Zedong, One important feature was the use of small groups of soldiers called cells. The cells worked together but knowledge of other cells was kept to a minimum, to lower the damage done to the organisation as a whole if one soldier was captured and tortured. The US troops began to use the 'search and destroy tactic' from 1965 to try and find members of theses cells and kill them. This was made extremely difficult, as the Vietcong did not wear uniforms so they were hard to distinguish from the ordinary peasants.
"You never know who the enemy was and who was the friend they all looked alike. They all dressed alike."
The US troops were often forced to use the unwritten rule 'If he's dead and Vietnamese he's VC.' Many atrocities were committed during the war due to the US troops not knowing peasants from proper enemies. If the US Marines knew or suspected that the Vietcong was operational in a particular village they frequently used to torture the peasants in the villages to gain information, sometimes, as mentioned below by an US Navy officer who served in Vietnam, whole villages were destroyed.